Brighton & Hove Palestine Solidarity Campaign

by Fadwa Tuquan

My mother's phantom hovers here
her forehead shines before my eyes
like the light of stars
She might be thinking of me now,
dreaming

(before my arrest
I drew letters in a book
new and old
I painted roses
grown with blood
and my mother was near me
blessing my painting)

I see here
on her face silence and loneliness now
and in the house
silence and loneliness
My satchel there on the bookshelf
and my school uniform
on the hanger
I see her hand reaching out
brushing the dust from it
I follow my mother's steps
and listen to her thoughts
yearn to her arms and the face of day

translated by Hatem Hussaini

Fadwa Tuqan

The Grande dame of Palestinian letters, is considered as one of the best Arab pioneering contemporary poets. she was born in Nablus in 1917. She began writing in the traditional forms, but was one of the leaders of the use of the free verse in Arabic poetry. Her works deal with feminine explorations of love and social protest. After 1967, she also began writing patriotic poems. Her autobiography published in 1985, “A Mountainous Journey”, was translated into English in 1990. Tuqan received the International Poetry Award in Palermo, Italy. She was awarded the Jerusalem Award for Culture and Arts by the PLO in 1990 and the United Arab Emirates Award in 1990. She also received the Honorary Palestine prize for poetry in 1996. She was the subject of a documentary film directed by novelist Liana Bader in 1999.

Other Poems:

Mahmoud Darwish

Sharif Elmusa

Sameh El-Qasim